Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-03-06
A CURIOUS MisHAP.
An Engineer Starts His Engine
while Asleep.

Late Saturday night Dennis Mack,
engineer on switch-engine in the yards
of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Com
pany, in this city, ran his engine into
the engine-house, writes q Scranton
| (Pa.) correspondent of the New York
San. As he was to go on duty again
at l o'clock Sunday morning, he lay
down in the cab of his engine to sleep
until that time. Just before l o'clock
workmen in the yard were startled
by great crash at the engine
house, which is a frame building.
Looking in the direction of the
house, they saw one side of it
give way and Mack's engine come tear
ing out of the breach. The engine ran
q short distance over the ground and
then toppled over down an embank-
ment twenty feet high. II rolled
over and over in the descent, and was
badly wrecked. The workmen knew
that Mack was on the engine, and ex-
pected to find him crushed to death in
the d6bris. They found him fast in the
wreck, and although he was held so
that it took them some time to extri-
cate him, he was found to have re-
ceiyed but few slight injuries. Mack
could not explain what caused the en-
CINE to start, but it is supposed that he
started up in his sleep and pulled the
throttle open.
This singular occurrence recalls the
fact that one of the most terrible rail
road disasters that ever occurred in this
country was caused by an engineer
starting his engine while he was asleep.
1t was in July, 1869, on the Erie rail-
way, at Mast Hope station, on the Della
ware division. The track was then a
single one on that part of the road.
Conductor Jud Brown had orders to lie
on the switch at Mast Hope until fast
express train No. 3, west-bond, passed.
James Griffin was the engineer Of
the freight train. As the express train
approached the station at mid
night, running thirty-fve miles an
hour, Conductor Brown was Mortified
to see his train pulling out on the main
track. Grifiin's engine reached the
main track directly in front of the ex-
press, and terrific collision was the
result. The cars on the express train
were piled on top of one another and
caught fire. Many passengers were
killed outright. A dozen others were
held in the wreck and burned alive.
The depot caught fire and was destroy
ed. Griffin discovered the situation in
time to jump from his engine. He fed,
but afterward surrendered himself and
was lodged in the Pike county jail. He
was tried for manslaughter in Septem-
Der, 1869. He was defended by the |
late Chiei-Justice George w. Wood |
ward. 1t was proved on the trial |
that he had been on duty TWEEN
ty-four hours without sleep, and the |
point made by the defence was that
while waiting on the switch he was over
come by the strain and fell asleep. He |,
partially awakened by the approach
ing train, and pulled open the throttle
of lis engine before he knew what he
was doing. A sympathetic jury acquit-
ted him, against the charge Of Judge
Barrett to convict, and were publicly
ceDsured by the court. The disaster
made the name of Mast Hope so noto-
rious all over the country that the rail-
road company changed the name OF the
station to Pine Grove, which it retained
until few weeks ago, when il was
changed back to Mast Hope. The re-
mains of several OF the victims of the
we're never identified. The
disaster cost the company 100000.